Store and Retrieve

The Archives and Records Management Section provides secure storage for inactive records. These records are no longer in use in UN offices on a day-to-day basis but which still need to be retained. UN offices can retrieve the records which they have transferred to ARMS.

Where can I store my office's records?

The Archives and Records Management Section has two storage facilities:

  • a research centre at Headquarters for archival records
  • a records centre in Queens, New York City

The records centre is a secure, climate-controlled and modern facility, meeting storage requirements of records, their retrieval and disposition.

Do you need to transfer your records? Please see our Records Transfer page.

How do I retrieve my office's records? 

We provide records retrieval service for inactive records that have been transferred to the record centre.

  • If you request a small number of files, they will be delivered to you within two days. We use the internal mail service or, for digitized records, by e-mail.
  • If you need to access larger volumes of records, it will take longer and may require on-site consultation at ARMS Queens facility.

The retrieved files have to be returned to the record centre within 30 days.

Send your completed request for records (Form RMS.51 / Form RMS.51) to arms@un.org.